Great points here by everybody. I just want to add that, in my opinion, part of the problem of modern Jovi is that Shanks is not "only" a producer in traditional sense, he is also a songwriter, guitar player, arranger, starter or finisher of the songs, perhaps even shadow writer sometimes (remember not everything is credited and more often than not, not justly, case in point Dry County does not have Richie as co-writer if I'm not mistaken).

If Shanks was only a producer (it does still mean a lot of responsibility, its' not just mixing and mastering, but again depends from band to band, and album to album. Again, its not the same to be a producer of a young 25-year olds and a producer of a veteran legendary band), then we could have a discussion is he proper for the job, is he still hungry, is he past it, etc. But all of this comes after the fact that he became too valuable and comfortable for Jon. Ofc, bucket stops with Jon and he is the most responsible for drop in quality. But, I can hope that Jon somehow rediscovers his songwriting and performing talents that I grew in love with. I cannot theoretically harbor the same hope with Shanks, cause I was never a fan of him, but the band Bon Jovi. In conlusion, I don't think somebody else would necessarily "mix" it better, I just think change is due so that Jon is outside comfort zone and some novel perspective is introduced. And that is probably precisely why the change won't come